A standing spot on Borussia Dortmund's Sudtribune, the largest single terrace in European football, can be had for close to 15 euros. A season ticket for the cheapest adult seat across the Bundesliga averages around 207 pounds. In the Premier League, the equivalent averages 468 pounds, and the cheapest matchday ticket across the English top flight runs roughly three times the Bundesliga's average. That gap is not an accident of culture. It is the direct, traceable result of one rule that German football has defended against outside investors for more than two decades.
The rule is known as 50+1, and it is the reason Bundesliga clubs answer to their members before they answer to any shareholder.
